With the execution of Lance Shockley approaching, this issue of A Public Witness unpacks the debate over his religious freedom rights for his final moments.
After their pursuit of taxpayer school funding failed to get approval from the U.S. Supreme Court, the plans to open St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School have been canceled.
Texas and Louisiana have passed similar laws requiring public schools to display the religious directives, and the issue is expected to eventually reach the U.S. Supreme Court.
‘We think that it’s not a matter of if, but just a matter of when, the Supreme Court will overrule Obergefell,’ said Mathew Staver, head of Liberty Counsel.
While not definitive, the decision signals the justices’ inclination to see conservative religious parents succeed in their two-year legal challenge to the school policy that has dominated discussions at school boards and divided county residents.
The group Freedom From Religion condemned the ruling, saying that ‘treating religiously affiliated nonprofits the same as all other nonprofits is not a violation of the First Amendment.’
This issue of A Public Witness looks at the dustup over St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School in Oklahoma and the religious freedom arguments before eight black-robed justices.